ALTHOUGH SHE HAS CREATED scores of magazine covers in her years as a media professional, Anastasia Yushkova, the CEO and founder of Anchor-VR, has never actually been featured on a cover herself. Until now, that is. In her new role at the helm of a 3D and Virtual Reality company that assists superyacht industry professionals to visualize and develop their dream yachts, Anastasia is extremely proud to be quoted on the cover of The Superyacht Business Report’s latest edition.

«It is a great honor for Anchor-VR to be featured in such a respected magazine—and especially on the cover of The Superyacht Business Report. Better yet, it’s the September cover of a flagship issue that comes out before the Cannes Yachting Festival and the Monaco Yacht Show,» says Yushkova. «I really appreciate the professionalism and vision of the editors. They devoted precious editorial space to credible and influential younger professionals—instead of just adhering to the standard rule of ‘if they’re good enough, they are old enough.’ The issue is exceptional and a great push for the ambitious Anchor-VR team right before two of the most significant boat shows in the world.»

The September issue of The Superyacht Business Report investigates the forces that drive the superyacht industry forwards. New technology is one of the most significant drivers of change across all sectors of society and the superyacht industry is no exception. Anchor-VR believes that Virtual Reality is the language of the 21st century since VR allows the next generation of clients to become genuine co-creators, who are dynamically involved in the design of their future yachts.

The magazine’s feature on «Superyachts for the Next Generation» continues the discussion initiated at the The Superyacht Design Forum in London earlier this year. It explores the relationship between shipyards and various subcontractors, when communication is the key to the successful and timely delivery of the project. According to its author, Clare Sidwell, research editor at The Superyacht Business Report, «VR could arguably provide a new and vital dimension to those relationships, avoiding any broken communication through an internal design review meeting where all parties are able to see a virtual, highly realistic representation of the superyacht design at any stage.»

If you wish to read the feature in its entirety, The Superyacht Business Report is available for purchase here.

WITH THE NEXT GENERATION of clients becoming increasingly tech-focused, can virtual reality and similar software improve the way we design and present the finished product? Anastasia Yushkova, CEO and Founder of Anchor-VR, tried to answer this question during the panel discussion on Virtual Reality at The Superyacht Design Forum, organized by The Superyacht Group at Design Center, Chelsea Harbour in London on the 25 & 26 June 2019.

We were happy to share our knowledge about Virtual Reality, especially about Enterprise use of VR, with some impressive statistics as well as use cases from our collaboration with respected clients, like Abeking & Rasmussen, Reymond Langton Design and other. Our audience, professionally moderated by The Superyacht Group Editor Rory Jackson, was thrilled to discover the high value that VR/AR brings to product development, decreasing construction time by 25%, reducing the duration of meetings to review mock-ups by up to 50%, while having the potential to lower fail costs by up to 75%.

For the majority of our audience, which consisted of naval architects, designers and project managers, Virtual Reality was mainly associated with hype, expensive and difficult to adopt technology, while we cast a light on the value of VR for project development and project management, explaining how VR could move away from being a «cost center» to becoming a genuine «profit center» for the companies. For instance, by giving a chance to test design options without building a physical mock-up, validate the design quickly and at earlier stages, collaborate remotely with colleagues and stakeholders and optimize the decision making process.

The issue of readiness of VR technology was also raised during this panel discussion. Anastasia Yushkova explained about the progress that VR hardware has made in the last two years, including wireless head-mounted displays, powerful video cards, haptic and motion-capture technology. The audience agreed that the main barrier for the wider adoption of VR is lack of awareness. The earlier that those involved adopt the technology, the sooner they discover its advantages.

ANCHOR-VR was very proud to participate in the Superyacht Design Symposium, that took place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, January 27-29, 2019. Stunning mountain views, stylish atmosphere of the top Italian ski resort and warm welcome of Boat International Media, the organizer of the event, created the best background for this thought-provoking, challenging and entertaining event.

Anastasia Yushkova, CEO and Founder of Anchor-VR, was honored to lead a master-class on Virtual Reality for the world’s leading superyacht designers, naval architects, shipyard CEOs and industry figures along with yacht owners followed by Q&A session. Anchor-VR also arranged a dedicated Virtual Reality corner in the main lobby of the venue, where we were able to present the visionary works of the finalists of Young Designer of the Year award in Virtual Reality, making the respected guests of the Superyacht Design Symposium virtually step on board of young designers’ imaginary, yet very practical, vessels and explore the designs in the new immersive way.

Five models of young designers, all coming from different countries, including the finalist Liu Yihharn were featured using Virtual Reality technology. And all the designers were extremely interested about the enormous potential of Virtual Reality in the yachting industry. According to Yihharn Liu, Finalist of Young Designer of the Year Awards, «the technology equips designers with the capability to present ideas and detect design conflicts within a 3D visual environment. Virtual Reality also offers an extra layer of confidence for the clients during the decision-making process. With the continued advancement of VR tools, designers and engineers will be able to employ this technology to promote further collaboration and discussion, and even the creation of models and structures from scratch in Virtual Reality in the near future».

Yihharn Liu concludes that she greatly enjoyed her experience working with Anchor-VR. She said: «Anastasia and her team worked closely with me during the entire process to ensure that the result fits my vision. The immersive and interactive VR experience presented at the Superyacht Design Symposium for my yacht concept, Manta, was memorable. Many thanks to Anchor-VR for their professionalism and their attention to detail.»